


The Life and Times of Leo Valdez

by Cerisa



Series: Nico's Miracles [2]
Category: Heroes of Olympus - Fandom, House of Hades - Fandom, Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Depression, F/M, I feel so bad, M/M, Nico's sad, PTSD, Trigger Warning: Nightmares, m/m - Freeform, trigger warning: self-harm, trigger warning: suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 15:37:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1033382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerisa/pseuds/Cerisa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sitting up, he ran a hand through his unruly mass of curls. His body betrayed him, and he let out a shaky sigh. He wanted to kick himself. Nico’s screams played through his mind like some morbid earworm, over and over and over again. There had to be something he could do. </p><p>Leo had never felt so useless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Life and Times of Leo Valdez

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rehearsal_Dweller](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/gifts).



> Insp: Castle of Glass – Linkin’ Park  
> Spirit of Life – Blackmill
> 
> Enjoy, guys. :3 I know it's short, but I have half of chapter 3 written. PS, I like comments and things. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr @ seashellsandstygianswords.

Leo groaned, kicking the hot blankets off. He rolled over, wiping away the wetness from his eyes, flinching as Nico’s screams pierced the air again, running through his core like a sharp and cold Stygian dagger. Fighting back tears, he tried valiantly to hold himself together. Nico’s screams reminded him of so many bad things. Things he shouldn’t be thinking about, else he won’t be able to get out of bed for the next three days. At this point in the quest, he couldn’t afford to pull shit like that.

He had to restrain himself from vaulting out of his room and demanding that Nico _let him in_ , god damn it.

His gaze fell upon the bronze digital clock hovering over his bedside table. He sat up, blinked a couple of times, sure he was hallucinating. Three forty-five AM. Damn… yet another night wasted away. This was the icing on the cake, really–the cherry on top of the pile of steaming  _shit_  that was Leo’s life. Stifling another noise of frustration, he fell back into bed, pushing away the bad memories. He focused instead on tapping out Morse code onto his bedside table, echoes of his mother’s voice running through his mind.

 _“I love you, Leo.”_ Leo couldn’t remember a day having passed since her death where he didn’t think of her. She was always on his mind, more than anyone else. He swallowed, trying to get past the lump in his throat. _Remember her chocolate chip cookies,_ he told himself. _Remember the auto shop, and the picnics. Don’t let her die in your memories._  

Leo tried recalling her beautiful almond shaped face, but it was getting harder by the day. He remembers a tall, athletic woman backlit by the hall light while she stood over his bed, watching over him. He didn’t have any pictures of her. He sighed, missing her warmth and her light and their cuddles and her smell and burying his face in her lavender-scented hair.

He wondered what his mother would say about Nico. She’d be expecting him to fix it somehow. He was a child of Hephaestus after all. Fixing things was kind of part of the job description.

Leo sighed. He fixed _machines_. Not people.

His hands twitching, Leo sat up again, leaning forward with his head in his hands. He knew that Nico was having some serious issues. After all, he knew all too well what it was like, suffering through shit like this without anyone to talk to. What godly half child didn't? He finally understood why Nico never seemed to sleep. When he did, he paid for every second with sheer terror.

Who wouldn’t want reprieve from those awful dreams?

He had a ship to run, an all-powerful crazed earth-lady to defeat, and to top it off, he had to listen to the one person on this ship that knows what he feels like destroy himself from the inside out. Kid had it bad, worse than anyone else on this quest. He’d made it through Tartarus by himself.

Leo knew exactly what Mama would expect. Steeling himself, he straightened, drying his eyes with his white shirt. He pulled on his regular cargo pants, which were currently crumpled and wrinkled. Crossing to the room, he took a deep breath, running his hands through his unruly curls again. He had to do this.

 Refusing to acknowledge the burning in his eyes, or the fact that he was barely succeeding in holding in a sob, he set out to fix someone who he wasn’t entirely sure could be put back together.


End file.
